Composition of matter and method of making the same



Dec. 14 1926. Y 1,610,335

I T. SMITH COMPOSITION OF MATTER AND METHOD MAKING THE SAME Filed Dec. 9, 1925 m VENTOR A By @f -z Patented Dec. 1 451925v iguana i m nnoponn swi orimw, oia n.

coMPosI'rIoN or ,MATTEIBAND mnrnozoj or ivrAKtit s Tim s AME.

' Application tiled December I This invention relates to compositions of matter and methods of making the same, and more particularly to an improved-inlay product in which the alternate -metal and wood layers extend'co e'xtensively through their entire surfaces; I

The invention consists inhavingthe metal and wood layers/of the inlay composition of substantially the same tex'turefdegree of hardness, and other workable characteristics,

' so that after these metal and woodmeinbers 7 throughout the wood. Withthese e$Sntial have been joined together in therough; by

glue, dowel pins, etc.-, and-pressed tightly together so as to form substantiallyone sin-1 gle piece, though composed otdifferefnt sub stances, it can be worked bythe use of the V saw,, c'utterorothertools, andby'the emery cloth wheel orother polishing devicesyas if it was all oneintegral piece ofthe same material throughout." The selection of the metal is suchas to conform to the wood as near as possible. With a soft wood a core respondi'ngly soft inetalis used,and wlth aharder wood a. correspondingly harder metal is used. In allcases, the' metalextends features, the metal'and wood of substantially the same texture is'glued andpressed to gether, with the metal and wood extending;

throughout in substantial parallelism for concentricity, whereby both surfaces can-be" turned or worked; in such wherejboth' sides or upper and lower surfaces are visible; r r

I The invention ,diifers from prior known inlays, in which the metallic inlayiis inserted in grooves and pinned or riveted. to the wood; and then filed "flush with the adjacent wood, which is not only expensive, but unsatisfactory in that when the wooddriels out, the pins. or rivets become loose and the inlaid otm etal are glued jon, the glue dries'fout. This known method of inlaying is done" after the article is shaped and finished and'is' f usually done inetalwork'ers My improve 7 ment has the distinction and'marked differs enceover the foregoing in that insteadffot the metal'bein'g. a surfaofiiinlay'y; itexteiids throughout the adjacent wood, and is turned;

' worked and I finished throughout emananeously withthe adjacent woodi; fFurtherg more, by the' selection ofimetaland;wqqdfoi V "is done awa 9, 1925; tSerial 74,237.

is the s'ame as if made-entirely ofthat metal quent workability, but by having been com'-' pacted in their separatedsta'te, torm'amats.

terot substantial workability of the same,

degree throughout, so' compacting metal and. wood, eaohiof .the: same workability; with each extending throughout 1 the volume" otithe 7 Composite article, a new composition of matter uwithimetal inlay; is formed, which enablesforming'bysawing,cutting tools and 1" finishing wheels, as if the article was ofsubsta'ntia'lly the same constituency and consistenoy throughout, "Thereby the inlay process ywlth and a great saving is'ef- It does; not do 'to take any inetali because for-instance, hard sheet metal such as Ger man silver'or nickel would b'e too tou h relatively, and the tools would work through 1 the-wood and leave'the sheet metal, and this would; ruin the. emery olothand polishing wheeli On the other hand, touse tin foil or very soft metal would cause'thetools to workfthrough the 'tinilfoil, and leavejthe,

wood 7 protrude. Moreover, hard 5 sheet metal-such asGerman silver, niokehsilver,

*orbrass, or anyv other metal of similar vhardness be used, a certain saw would be required diflerent from-that usedfor the wood.

in "turning, a difl'erent tool. as used on wood 7 would be" required than that usedffor the r than: ":Such 'difier'ent tools would cut unevenly and rip the wood asit isthe softer. of; the two..f-Besides the g1ueQ wou'ld-notj stand v the strain of the tools and thefobjeot' would be ripped apart. In. my improve- I I V ment thev same or cutting tool can. be strips. come out, @Where 1 the thinner str ps used and the sandpaper or' emery cloth wheel if hard-metal"were used. 'lWhen tin foil used it is too soft, and. besides would not afhi'gh polishiatits edge portions appearing alongthefwdod.

r i wouldinot lbe affected; as would be the ease In thefipresentinventiony a metal isuchas workability as v the wo o'd which is selected,

lW hl tBi metal is; utilized which is'lof the same joined "together by pressure; "andiworkejd,

zt-hen rhe fwhit' l t l d-wo d, hen

e The softer Woods as poplar,dogw0od, ma-

ple and beech, are joined with softer whitev metal compositions, and theharder woods as ebony, walnut, mahogany, snake,.etc., are

joined to white metal having a composition substantially that 01 these .degreesof hardness. The compositlon OIhWllltB metal is readily determined by varying its constitu-v ents, and the 'de'gree'of hardness .or softness produce a composite throughout.

thereby fixed. It isthus readily possible to article of wood and metal of substantially the. same workability Another feature of my'invention resides in the characteristic that if any portion ot the. wood adjacent the metal inlay is not smooth, or is slightly notched, t 1$11ll1 metalon beingpressed' together with the wood, fills. in these slight notches, or unevennesses. Thisisnarticularlv the case wherev the soft: er metalis used, though also. the case Where 1 harder metal and woodis used since a very heavy pressure is used in order to compact {the wood and metal together. In certain shown in the drawings and cases, heat and pressure, serve to compact the layers of wood and metal.-

'Tl1e invention will be more .rully de-. scribed flierelna-fter, embediments thereoi;

out in the'claims. 1 H

' In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1' is a plan View of one embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a section on line 52- 2. of Figure 1. V

Figure 3 is a plan view of another em bodiment.

, V Figure 4 is a'section on line 44 of V Figure-' 3. V

Figurefi is aplan of another embodiment. Figure 6 is planof another embodiment. Figure 7 is another embodiment, and

Figure 8 still another embodiment.

.Similar' characters ofreference indicate.

corresponding parts. p v

Referring to the drawings, and more par ticularly to Figures 3 and-4, a layer of wood IO alternates with a layer of metal. 11. These are arranged parallel: with each 0ther',and extend through from topsurface l2 to the lower surface 13,.

In: Figures .1 and diagonally arranged layers 14" are provided intermediate wood 15'.

In Figure 5, the wood is com os'ejd of two sections 16 and 17', and has circ'u arlyshaped slots extendingthrough the entire thickness of the'wood, and in theseslotsthe correspondingly curved-metal .inlay 16 is placed which extends throughout the thickness. of jthe wood 7 from top to bottom surface.

t' l being. .tllei'ebetweeni Jqin'ders #1 i dicate where the! ood join finally pointed 2, parallel layers, and

suitably shaped blocks of Figure. erearrec1ne l l es 1S.

with a central circular inlay 19, are provided which extends from the top to the bot-- tom of the layer of wood which has been provided first with these slots of the depth ;.throughout the thickness of the wood.

@ther configurations come within the scope ofiny invention. r

In Figure 7, in which upper and lower surfaces arenot fiat, but only oneexposedsurfa'ce is shown,

Thus, rough edged pieces .ofwood may bjejoined with irregularly shaped pieces oi metal, and then. the cuttingtool cuts down this composition. of matter'to the approxi-.

mately final shape desired,-:andthis isthen finished or polished, as it all of one pie'ceoi either metal or wood. v

In each of. the above cases or embodiments, the selected metal and selected wood, is joined together by gluing preferably, and thenby intense'compacting pressure, applied in a manner in parallelism with the con tactin'g surfaces'of the wood'and metal, so as to make these two substances as if one, theyfbeing of substantially the same texture, hardness, and workability.

' The inlay extends from one surfaceto the diametrically opposite surfaces to be, able to provide both surfaces to be finished ali'ke of polished form, as in the case of humidor covers, fancy boxes, 'bookends, smoker'sets,

etc., where both sides, are seen. V.

The, in-lay may ,be' given design. lNhenthei'nlay has. the necessary width, it may be. engraved, .or the wood and metal may be carved.

Thefinishmaybe either polishedorbufied,

an. embodiment is shown,

The metal Jun andin either case the metal is selected. ac-- cordingly. Also wherestains forthe wood are used, the metal is accordingly. selected,

so that the greasy metal. does nottake the V 2' I V The inlay composition of matter; may

use'jdgfor many purposes, ashumidors, ciga rette eases, 'i'ancy boxes, cane or umbrella handles, brush-backs, pipes, furniture (wood trim),.flooring'trim,etch

' The essentialfeature of my invention I havev the metal; inlay of substantially the same 'teXtu ,Ldegree of hardness or softness,

andworkability as that-of the wood, with the wood and .rnetaleompacted together, by pres 5 sure, and the metal and wood layers coextensive throughout the volume of the article,

. with the constituent parts thereof Worked one substance was present. I 1 In certain cases insteadof uslng wood,

out and finishedsimultaneously,- as if only pyralin of different consistency may be se- -lected, andin other cases instead of using 2O harder kinds of Wood about 85% of tin is, used, for the softer klnds of wood about 95% of tinjs used, with variations of the White metal,.aluminum of suitable consistency may be selected. Eith-eror both opis desired to be finished it is suflicient to have the metal extend only 'one half Way through approximately, that-fis not entirely through, though this is preferable. H p In case white metal'is used :which' is an alloy of tin,- copper and antimony, for the tin contents for woods intermediate these harder and softer woods, and with" variations of copper and antimony proportionately to the tin contents and to the, degree of. hardness or softness of the wood. Aluminum may be alloyed with copper, and zinc, and so variationsof aluminum or copper or zinc determinedby the hardness or softness-of such an alloy. g. 3

I have described and shown various em bodim-ents of my invention but it isclear that changes maybe madewithoutdeparting hereto.

from thespirit ofmy invention as define in the appended claims.

dished, by virtue "I'claimjas newt 1. Anxinlay composition of sisting' of separated soft metal and wood, saidmetal being alloyed tosubstantially the particular degree i of hardness 10f "the wood,

ing substantially throughout the volumeiof the article so formed-and compacted together under the action of pressure to form one. .50

piece of substantially thesame tool resistin workability throughout with 1 the expose matter, con-f V whereby the wood and metal are of'substan; tially the. same tool 'resisting,"workability under the action of the cutting and finishing tools,-withfthe' soft metal and wood extendsurfaces of wood and softmetal equally fin- I;

workability.

2. The methodof making inlay composi- 0f their same tool; resisting tion of matterwhich consists in joining with wood soft meta-10f substantially the same degree of hardness, texture andtoolresisting' workability as that of the wood, gluing the layers of wood and metal together, subjecting the same to high pressureto compact the 3 layers of soft metal and wood togetherin a Y substantially. one piec'e and then working of the composite structure 'to approximate xp edsurfacesjof the wood and metal 7 I:

shape, and finallyfinishing the surfaces of 1- the wood and metal; bothfwoiod'and ;metal' I simultaneously, and co-extensively by reason I of their same tool resisting workability."

In testimony 1 that I claim, the foregoing as my 'invention I' have signed my .name

i THsoDosEsmm. 

